The Designer Suit Awakening
Oh, what a justice lifestyle we live when we bare our wounds to the sky and ask mercifully, “How do we distill ourselves from the rest?” A joyous question at first impressions but in true nature, only a curiously masked question of separation. Striving forward to end of the road, alone and pushing aside any form of followers. Such a selfish and lonesome strive it is when we live for ourselves and no one else. Isn’t some form of unity in sight? Is there no hope for a world where we fall upon our backs like pathetic turtles but can count on the flick of others to turn us around?
Selfishness breathes into the lungs of every man and woman walking down the commercial filled street. It glides and drifts between each wave of fresh air and it sits, waiting for someone, not just anyone, but the weakest human being that walks with head titled down as if it’s going to fall off any second. We have our heads tilted down, our arms to our side as two planks of wood, and we pick the most disgusting and dead-like walk we can find and we perfect it. It sounds like such a difficult task to pick the weakest of the bunch, but sadly, the bunch is the weakest. It enters and destroys. This disease brings out the worst in us and shuns off any newcomers because we are to think that they might take away the resources we hold so deeply. In a sort of parasite manner, we cling to our belongings, our emotions, our wealth, and we no longer think about the common man but think of ourselves with superiority. Our money is our money alone and God forbid one of our colleagues will need a lending hand because surely, we will not offer any sort of hand or limb of ours. We’ll watch their demise, we will watch them suffer and we’ll only sit back in our glory and think, “I’m glad I’m not that fool.” We are greater fools than those who don’t have the offering of wealth at such an easy reach of the hand. They are lacking many things, yet we are lacking our dignity and morality. Why? Because we are the all glorious, selfish human beings that think that their problems are not our problems and our problems can be solved with a little “hard” earned cash.
For example, let’s take apart a usual setting in the 21st century.
The setting for this example is a busy city street filled with traffic, thousand of people trying to get from A to B in the quickest time, stores, the homeless community, prostitutes (in reality, aren’t the homeless better of?), illegal drug trades, and other wonderfully appealing aspects that make up the city.
Going South down the street is “character A”, which we will call Gary. Going North up the street is “character B”, which we will call Steve. Keep in mind that Gary and Steve have never met before, they each have their own lives, their own routes, their own political opinions. Overall, Gary and Steve are completely different in every way.
Gary is a business man with the most expensive leather briefcase in this entire city. He is a man of great wealth and he wakes up every morning, kisses his wife (as if someone was forcing him to) and goes off to work to feed his workaholic affairs. He wears designer suits and ever since he began working, he has looked down on the common man. Gary thinks of himself of being better off than most others (in economical term), and he has that part right. But what Gary has wrong is that he thinks because of his success, he is superior to others and higher up on the class system, looking down on everyone else as being poverty-living citizens, worthless of his time.
Steve doesn’t own the most expensive briefcase in the city and he is content with that. He walks around the city, aimlessly, without a clear destination. He wears ripped jeans and T-shirts, often stained with things that even crime scene investigators can’t figure out. He wakes up every morning in his apartment, has no wife to kiss so he skips that step, and he goes to feed his love for city landscaping. He views every as an equal and he attempts to look pass the clothes and hairstyles, and define what someone actually is like. He is the average common man, neither poor enough to cross the poverty line, but not rich to wear designer suits and gain a superior mindset like Gary.
There is a coffee shop at the end of Number One Street. The business is good and both Gary and Steve are regular customers, but they come on different times of the day so they’ve never run into each other, until now. (Gary is taking a vacation next week so he had to reschedule a meeting he had next week, today. Therefore, his reason for going to work at eight am instead of the usual ten pm.) Steve stands in line first and Gary stands behind him. Already, Gary has judged Steve as being below him and observed his attire as dirty and non-appropriate. Steve steps up the counter and orders. His order is given to him but when he takes out his wallet to pay, there is no cash inside. Steve laughs and tells the clerk, “I seem to be out of cash, can I just come back tomorrow and pay you for this drink now?” The clerk is one of those uptight, always following the code of conduct and declines, “No, that would be against the rules. Either someone leans you money now to pay for this drink, or I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
Steve, a slight bit embarrassed, turns around and recites in a loud, projecting voice. “Um, sorry to interrupt, but I’ve run out of cash at the moment, is there anyone that can lean me some money to pay for this drink and I’ll get your information and pay you back tomorrow?” There is silence in the coffee shop. Some are staring at Steve as if he is standing there completely naked, others are staring into their newspaper, pretending they didn’t hear anything.
Gary stands behind him, gripping his briefcase and laughing to himself. Gary also has a wallet in his pocket that could pay for Steve’s drink and the rest of the menu. Gary thinks “How pathetic, embarrassing, yet humorous. This fool has run out of cash, maybe he shouldn’t be buying coffee and should be flipping burgers at the nearest fast food place.”
Steve accepts the silence and realizes no one is going to offer that helping hand. Steve turns to the clerk, “Yeah….I’m sorry to hold up the line. I’ll be going now.” Steve turns around, and heads to the door as everyone sits in silence, thinking the same thing Gary was thinking. This pathetic man can’t even afford a cup of coffee, who does he think he is? Why isn’t he bright, successful? Why isn’t he worth anything?
The day passes and everyone goes about their daily affairs. Gary goes to his meeting, works at his desk with a beautiful view of the city. Steve wanders around the city, sitting at various benches, reading books he carries in his messenger bag. The prostitutes offer their pleasures to humbled men that aren’t satisfied with their wives at home. The drug dealers feed the addiction of others and also lend a helping hand to their death bed, all in the good name of money in return though. The traffic continues to be heavy as the night passes, never a silence from the thousands of cars all trying to get to their destination. The homeless beg for food, money, or anything that anyone is willing to offer and still offering their stale smell of urine and trash building up from all the years. The day passes like any other day, and the night enters just like any other night.
Gary stands at a corner sidewalk of an intersection, waiting for the little man on the other side to appear, giving him permission to cross the street. There are several others waiting at this intersection, let’s estimate twelve. Gary is waiting to walk across to the parking deck, get in his luxurious car, and drive to his million dollar house. Suddenly, without warning, Gary feels an object digging into his back. He stands still, not knowing what to do and as he stands still, he begins to realize that the object is more than likely metallic and waiting to penetrate him with a pull of the trigger.
“Listen up and any sudden movements and you’ll find your insides spilling on the very sidewalk you stand.” Gary feels the hot air escaping from the man standing behind him and brushing up against his neck. Gary stands frighten and he isn’t going to wait and see if this man’s threat is valid.
The hot hair once again reaches Gary’s neck, therefore implying that the man speaks again. There is a roughness in his voice; there is determination in his voice. “You are going to gently reach into your pocket and take out your wallet. Then you are going to pass it backwards into the bag you find resting on the back of your leg. You will drop the wallet in, softly, without making any noise or bringing any attention to us.”
Gary does as instructed, realizing that he is handing over his cash, credit cards, society security card, and other important objects to his life. As much as he wants to, Gary wants to turn around, push the lowlife to the ground, and start passing blows on the man’s face. But he doesn’t because he knows if he acts on his thoughts, he’ll more than likely end up with a bullet in between his light blue eyes.
The man speaks again, with the same tone in his voice as before. “You will now reach into your pocket again and take out your cell phone. You will extend your arm, and open the cell phone in front of your face. You will send a text message to yourself with only your license plate number. If I see any other information other than your license plate, I’ll pull this trigger and end your overly worthless life. I’ll be gone before you hit the ground, no one knowing who shot you. After you send the text message to yourself, you do the same as before with the wallet.”
Gary once again does as instructed. He follows the orders given precisely, he is still in shock. He never would of though this would be happening to him, but in a world where anything is possible, he should have at least expected something of the manner. As in the cinematic form, he sees his life flash before his eyes. A montage of everything it took him to reach his high level of the class system. A montage of his childhood, teen years, adult years, his wife, his house, everything he has signed to his name. He drops the cell phone into the bag behind him, just hovering next to his leg and held on by a man holding a gun, willing to do anything for luxury without work.
The dreaded voice comes back, the voice that has now become the voice of Death to Gary. He wants more. “You are doing very well, you might live after all. Now you are going to get your car keys from your pocket, and drop it in the bag once more. Once everyone starts moving to the other side, I’ll walk to the parking deck. Take out your cell phone, read your license plate, and find your car. I will hop in, drive away in my brand new car, and I will pass you on the street, while you stand on this corner, not knowing what happened and I’ll drive away with everything you have.”
Gary feels sweat running down his arms, he feels the unstableness of his legs as they tremble from the fear of dying. The irony is so rich here. The man that it took years and years to reach his success loses so much of it in a matter of seconds. A man that reeks with an ego of superiority, trembles with fear only when a metallic gun is placed in the center of his back.
As Gary drops his last belongings, besides his briefcase, in the bag, the little man on the other side appears and everyone begins to walk to the other side. The voice appears again, “Don’t let me forget, you will now let go of your briefcase and stand here as I take it. There shall be no running, no moving until you see me disappear into the parking deck.”
Gary drops his briefcase and gently places it on the ground, shivering and barely able to keep his arm still. The mass of people move forward and suddenly, he sees a man walk passed him with his briefcase, a hood over his head to mask his face, and a brown bag filled with his belongings. As much as it angers Gary, he stands still. As much as he wants to run up to the man that just robbed him and throw him in front of traffic, he does nothing.
The mass storm of people has crossed the street, among them, the man who robbed another man from his possession. Gary stands still, as if he died and his body was standing without movement, not sure what to do next. He just stands, without thoughts, without movement, without action.
Suddenly, he feels a hand placed on his shoulder and Gary snaps back into reality and turns around in fright, as if there was another man waiting to finish him off. He turns, he stares blankly at the man’s face and is the man from the coffee shop, the man that ran out of cash and Gary wouldn’t offer him a few dollars to help him out. Steve, the man that Gary looked down on, stands in front of him with his hand still placed on his shoulder.
Steve reaches into his pocket and Gary uncontrollably blinks, thinking that he was behind this whole robbery. Steve pulls out his cell phone and holds it in front of his chest, in front of Gary’s chest, where the bullet would have gone through if he did not follow directions. Steve’s lips move, “I saw what happened to you, the whole robbery. I would have done something, but like yourself I was in shock. Here is my cell phone, call the police, call your wife, call anyone you please to help you. I have some money in my wallet that you could use to have a cab take you home. If there is anything else I can do, please ask.”
Gary is stunned, this common man that he has never met before is offering money, his cell phone, and his help. He realizes that this is the same man that didn’t have any money for some coffee, Gary stands confused in how he is offering money this very instant. Afraid that asking about it will remind this man that Gary didn’t help him when he needed it, Gary decides to take his chances. “You’re the man from the coffee shop that couldn’t pay for his drink. How is it that you have money now?”
Steve tilts his head back slightly and lets out a faint laugh, “Of course, I remember you standing behind me. I paid a visit to the ATM and took some money out, making sure that situation wouldn’t happen again.” Steve opens up his wallet and takes out three twenty dollar bills and outstretches his hand towards Gary. “Listen man, I know it’s rough what happened to you but call the police with my cell phone, take this money and call yourself a cab. Go home, kiss your wife, wait for the police to find that thief. Everything will be alright; it can happen to any of us.”
Gary’s heart sinks, he feels awful. He was unwilling to lend this man a few dollars simply because of his own selfishness and greed. Now that same man is offering him eighty dollars, his cell phone, and anything else he can do. Gary thought this man was worthless, now it is Gary who is worthless, selfish, and absorbed in his own life. Gary standing with confusion, he speaks, “Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me and offering me your money when I wouldn’t give you a few dollars for a simple cup of coffee? Why help a man that wouldn’t help you?”
Steve smiles, the kind of smile when someone knows what has just been told to him but he knows something the other person doesn’t know. “It is true that you wouldn’t help me and I should be angry and upset and filled with rage. But I’m not, I’m not filled with any rage or anger and I do not want to inflict any harm on you.”
Gary showcases the human facial expression for confusion, “Why are you helping me then?”
Steve looks into his eyes, as if he was going to speak the most important words in his life. “You have to understand that we are all the same. We may all belong to different social classes, economic classes, country clubs, or anything along that manner but we are all the same. We all go through the same struggles. The struggles of love, hate, family, friends. We all struggle with ourselves and we all suffer. We must understand that we are each other’s helping hand. I do not know your name, nor I know anything about you, but I saw a man that needed a helping hand and here I am offering mine. We are one; we must unite and help each other because there is always going to be a moment when we need someone to do the same.”
Gary is a complete mess. He wants to drop to his knees and thank this man for his offering and his kind words. He wants to wants to take off his designer suit and show this man that he is worthless. A man who walked the city streets with his nose touching the sky and his heart encased in gold, has now learned the most enchanting words from a man wearing jeans and a stained t-shirt. The tables have truly turned now.
Gary smiles with content and fulfillment, “I have no idea how to thank you. I wish I could thank you for your money and your cell phone and your help. I wish I could help you for your words of wisdom but as you know, I have nothing. Thank you, I’ll repay you one day, I’ll find you and repay you for everything.”
Steve once again, faintly laughs, “There is no need to repay me, just promise yourself that you are going to help those who are in need, no matter their skin, class, sex, or anything. Promise yourself that selfishness will never rein your heart”.
The two men stand face to face, and shake hands. They shake hands because they have nothing else to offer each other. The two men that were so different were equally the same the entire time.
In a sense, we have all had moments in our lives where we are Gary and/or Steve. Sadly enough, there are more moments when we are Gary than moments when are Steve. We too many times walk around with our hearts only set on ourselves and we look at other’s issues as if they are only the dirt covering a road, unimportant and unnoticeable. We must realize that other’s issues are our issues. We must offer our hands to those who need help, because so many of us have no one to help us when we are in need. Regardless if they are our friends, family, enemies, or just someone on the street, like the story presented above, we must care for them as much as we care for ourselves. If in cases of helping, we must sacrifice something of ours, then let us get rid of anything that needs to be rid of. We must lessen this distance we have placed between our fellow man, because the more that distance grows, the more destructive our selfishness will become.
In reality, all this isn’t about money or any other form of materialistic object that ends up owning us, when we think we own them. In reality, it’s about how we fail to understand that without sacrifice, there is nothing to gain. In reality and all honesty, it’s about how our lack for care about our fellow man is destroying us.
Day by day, hour by hour, second by second…
Selfishness breathes into the lungs of every man and woman walking down the commercial filled street. It glides and drifts between each wave of fresh air and it sits, waiting for someone, not just anyone, but the weakest human being that walks with head titled down as if it’s going to fall off any second. We have our heads tilted down, our arms to our side as two planks of wood, and we pick the most disgusting and dead-like walk we can find and we perfect it. It sounds like such a difficult task to pick the weakest of the bunch, but sadly, the bunch is the weakest. It enters and destroys. This disease brings out the worst in us and shuns off any newcomers because we are to think that they might take away the resources we hold so deeply. In a sort of parasite manner, we cling to our belongings, our emotions, our wealth, and we no longer think about the common man but think of ourselves with superiority. Our money is our money alone and God forbid one of our colleagues will need a lending hand because surely, we will not offer any sort of hand or limb of ours. We’ll watch their demise, we will watch them suffer and we’ll only sit back in our glory and think, “I’m glad I’m not that fool.” We are greater fools than those who don’t have the offering of wealth at such an easy reach of the hand. They are lacking many things, yet we are lacking our dignity and morality. Why? Because we are the all glorious, selfish human beings that think that their problems are not our problems and our problems can be solved with a little “hard” earned cash.
For example, let’s take apart a usual setting in the 21st century.
The setting for this example is a busy city street filled with traffic, thousand of people trying to get from A to B in the quickest time, stores, the homeless community, prostitutes (in reality, aren’t the homeless better of?), illegal drug trades, and other wonderfully appealing aspects that make up the city.
Going South down the street is “character A”, which we will call Gary. Going North up the street is “character B”, which we will call Steve. Keep in mind that Gary and Steve have never met before, they each have their own lives, their own routes, their own political opinions. Overall, Gary and Steve are completely different in every way.
Gary is a business man with the most expensive leather briefcase in this entire city. He is a man of great wealth and he wakes up every morning, kisses his wife (as if someone was forcing him to) and goes off to work to feed his workaholic affairs. He wears designer suits and ever since he began working, he has looked down on the common man. Gary thinks of himself of being better off than most others (in economical term), and he has that part right. But what Gary has wrong is that he thinks because of his success, he is superior to others and higher up on the class system, looking down on everyone else as being poverty-living citizens, worthless of his time.
Steve doesn’t own the most expensive briefcase in the city and he is content with that. He walks around the city, aimlessly, without a clear destination. He wears ripped jeans and T-shirts, often stained with things that even crime scene investigators can’t figure out. He wakes up every morning in his apartment, has no wife to kiss so he skips that step, and he goes to feed his love for city landscaping. He views every as an equal and he attempts to look pass the clothes and hairstyles, and define what someone actually is like. He is the average common man, neither poor enough to cross the poverty line, but not rich to wear designer suits and gain a superior mindset like Gary.
There is a coffee shop at the end of Number One Street. The business is good and both Gary and Steve are regular customers, but they come on different times of the day so they’ve never run into each other, until now. (Gary is taking a vacation next week so he had to reschedule a meeting he had next week, today. Therefore, his reason for going to work at eight am instead of the usual ten pm.) Steve stands in line first and Gary stands behind him. Already, Gary has judged Steve as being below him and observed his attire as dirty and non-appropriate. Steve steps up the counter and orders. His order is given to him but when he takes out his wallet to pay, there is no cash inside. Steve laughs and tells the clerk, “I seem to be out of cash, can I just come back tomorrow and pay you for this drink now?” The clerk is one of those uptight, always following the code of conduct and declines, “No, that would be against the rules. Either someone leans you money now to pay for this drink, or I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
Steve, a slight bit embarrassed, turns around and recites in a loud, projecting voice. “Um, sorry to interrupt, but I’ve run out of cash at the moment, is there anyone that can lean me some money to pay for this drink and I’ll get your information and pay you back tomorrow?” There is silence in the coffee shop. Some are staring at Steve as if he is standing there completely naked, others are staring into their newspaper, pretending they didn’t hear anything.
Gary stands behind him, gripping his briefcase and laughing to himself. Gary also has a wallet in his pocket that could pay for Steve’s drink and the rest of the menu. Gary thinks “How pathetic, embarrassing, yet humorous. This fool has run out of cash, maybe he shouldn’t be buying coffee and should be flipping burgers at the nearest fast food place.”
Steve accepts the silence and realizes no one is going to offer that helping hand. Steve turns to the clerk, “Yeah….I’m sorry to hold up the line. I’ll be going now.” Steve turns around, and heads to the door as everyone sits in silence, thinking the same thing Gary was thinking. This pathetic man can’t even afford a cup of coffee, who does he think he is? Why isn’t he bright, successful? Why isn’t he worth anything?
The day passes and everyone goes about their daily affairs. Gary goes to his meeting, works at his desk with a beautiful view of the city. Steve wanders around the city, sitting at various benches, reading books he carries in his messenger bag. The prostitutes offer their pleasures to humbled men that aren’t satisfied with their wives at home. The drug dealers feed the addiction of others and also lend a helping hand to their death bed, all in the good name of money in return though. The traffic continues to be heavy as the night passes, never a silence from the thousands of cars all trying to get to their destination. The homeless beg for food, money, or anything that anyone is willing to offer and still offering their stale smell of urine and trash building up from all the years. The day passes like any other day, and the night enters just like any other night.
Gary stands at a corner sidewalk of an intersection, waiting for the little man on the other side to appear, giving him permission to cross the street. There are several others waiting at this intersection, let’s estimate twelve. Gary is waiting to walk across to the parking deck, get in his luxurious car, and drive to his million dollar house. Suddenly, without warning, Gary feels an object digging into his back. He stands still, not knowing what to do and as he stands still, he begins to realize that the object is more than likely metallic and waiting to penetrate him with a pull of the trigger.
“Listen up and any sudden movements and you’ll find your insides spilling on the very sidewalk you stand.” Gary feels the hot air escaping from the man standing behind him and brushing up against his neck. Gary stands frighten and he isn’t going to wait and see if this man’s threat is valid.
The hot hair once again reaches Gary’s neck, therefore implying that the man speaks again. There is a roughness in his voice; there is determination in his voice. “You are going to gently reach into your pocket and take out your wallet. Then you are going to pass it backwards into the bag you find resting on the back of your leg. You will drop the wallet in, softly, without making any noise or bringing any attention to us.”
Gary does as instructed, realizing that he is handing over his cash, credit cards, society security card, and other important objects to his life. As much as he wants to, Gary wants to turn around, push the lowlife to the ground, and start passing blows on the man’s face. But he doesn’t because he knows if he acts on his thoughts, he’ll more than likely end up with a bullet in between his light blue eyes.
The man speaks again, with the same tone in his voice as before. “You will now reach into your pocket again and take out your cell phone. You will extend your arm, and open the cell phone in front of your face. You will send a text message to yourself with only your license plate number. If I see any other information other than your license plate, I’ll pull this trigger and end your overly worthless life. I’ll be gone before you hit the ground, no one knowing who shot you. After you send the text message to yourself, you do the same as before with the wallet.”
Gary once again does as instructed. He follows the orders given precisely, he is still in shock. He never would of though this would be happening to him, but in a world where anything is possible, he should have at least expected something of the manner. As in the cinematic form, he sees his life flash before his eyes. A montage of everything it took him to reach his high level of the class system. A montage of his childhood, teen years, adult years, his wife, his house, everything he has signed to his name. He drops the cell phone into the bag behind him, just hovering next to his leg and held on by a man holding a gun, willing to do anything for luxury without work.
The dreaded voice comes back, the voice that has now become the voice of Death to Gary. He wants more. “You are doing very well, you might live after all. Now you are going to get your car keys from your pocket, and drop it in the bag once more. Once everyone starts moving to the other side, I’ll walk to the parking deck. Take out your cell phone, read your license plate, and find your car. I will hop in, drive away in my brand new car, and I will pass you on the street, while you stand on this corner, not knowing what happened and I’ll drive away with everything you have.”
Gary feels sweat running down his arms, he feels the unstableness of his legs as they tremble from the fear of dying. The irony is so rich here. The man that it took years and years to reach his success loses so much of it in a matter of seconds. A man that reeks with an ego of superiority, trembles with fear only when a metallic gun is placed in the center of his back.
As Gary drops his last belongings, besides his briefcase, in the bag, the little man on the other side appears and everyone begins to walk to the other side. The voice appears again, “Don’t let me forget, you will now let go of your briefcase and stand here as I take it. There shall be no running, no moving until you see me disappear into the parking deck.”
Gary drops his briefcase and gently places it on the ground, shivering and barely able to keep his arm still. The mass of people move forward and suddenly, he sees a man walk passed him with his briefcase, a hood over his head to mask his face, and a brown bag filled with his belongings. As much as it angers Gary, he stands still. As much as he wants to run up to the man that just robbed him and throw him in front of traffic, he does nothing.
The mass storm of people has crossed the street, among them, the man who robbed another man from his possession. Gary stands still, as if he died and his body was standing without movement, not sure what to do next. He just stands, without thoughts, without movement, without action.
Suddenly, he feels a hand placed on his shoulder and Gary snaps back into reality and turns around in fright, as if there was another man waiting to finish him off. He turns, he stares blankly at the man’s face and is the man from the coffee shop, the man that ran out of cash and Gary wouldn’t offer him a few dollars to help him out. Steve, the man that Gary looked down on, stands in front of him with his hand still placed on his shoulder.
Steve reaches into his pocket and Gary uncontrollably blinks, thinking that he was behind this whole robbery. Steve pulls out his cell phone and holds it in front of his chest, in front of Gary’s chest, where the bullet would have gone through if he did not follow directions. Steve’s lips move, “I saw what happened to you, the whole robbery. I would have done something, but like yourself I was in shock. Here is my cell phone, call the police, call your wife, call anyone you please to help you. I have some money in my wallet that you could use to have a cab take you home. If there is anything else I can do, please ask.”
Gary is stunned, this common man that he has never met before is offering money, his cell phone, and his help. He realizes that this is the same man that didn’t have any money for some coffee, Gary stands confused in how he is offering money this very instant. Afraid that asking about it will remind this man that Gary didn’t help him when he needed it, Gary decides to take his chances. “You’re the man from the coffee shop that couldn’t pay for his drink. How is it that you have money now?”
Steve tilts his head back slightly and lets out a faint laugh, “Of course, I remember you standing behind me. I paid a visit to the ATM and took some money out, making sure that situation wouldn’t happen again.” Steve opens up his wallet and takes out three twenty dollar bills and outstretches his hand towards Gary. “Listen man, I know it’s rough what happened to you but call the police with my cell phone, take this money and call yourself a cab. Go home, kiss your wife, wait for the police to find that thief. Everything will be alright; it can happen to any of us.”
Gary’s heart sinks, he feels awful. He was unwilling to lend this man a few dollars simply because of his own selfishness and greed. Now that same man is offering him eighty dollars, his cell phone, and anything else he can do. Gary thought this man was worthless, now it is Gary who is worthless, selfish, and absorbed in his own life. Gary standing with confusion, he speaks, “Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me and offering me your money when I wouldn’t give you a few dollars for a simple cup of coffee? Why help a man that wouldn’t help you?”
Steve smiles, the kind of smile when someone knows what has just been told to him but he knows something the other person doesn’t know. “It is true that you wouldn’t help me and I should be angry and upset and filled with rage. But I’m not, I’m not filled with any rage or anger and I do not want to inflict any harm on you.”
Gary showcases the human facial expression for confusion, “Why are you helping me then?”
Steve looks into his eyes, as if he was going to speak the most important words in his life. “You have to understand that we are all the same. We may all belong to different social classes, economic classes, country clubs, or anything along that manner but we are all the same. We all go through the same struggles. The struggles of love, hate, family, friends. We all struggle with ourselves and we all suffer. We must understand that we are each other’s helping hand. I do not know your name, nor I know anything about you, but I saw a man that needed a helping hand and here I am offering mine. We are one; we must unite and help each other because there is always going to be a moment when we need someone to do the same.”
Gary is a complete mess. He wants to drop to his knees and thank this man for his offering and his kind words. He wants to wants to take off his designer suit and show this man that he is worthless. A man who walked the city streets with his nose touching the sky and his heart encased in gold, has now learned the most enchanting words from a man wearing jeans and a stained t-shirt. The tables have truly turned now.
Gary smiles with content and fulfillment, “I have no idea how to thank you. I wish I could thank you for your money and your cell phone and your help. I wish I could help you for your words of wisdom but as you know, I have nothing. Thank you, I’ll repay you one day, I’ll find you and repay you for everything.”
Steve once again, faintly laughs, “There is no need to repay me, just promise yourself that you are going to help those who are in need, no matter their skin, class, sex, or anything. Promise yourself that selfishness will never rein your heart”.
The two men stand face to face, and shake hands. They shake hands because they have nothing else to offer each other. The two men that were so different were equally the same the entire time.
In a sense, we have all had moments in our lives where we are Gary and/or Steve. Sadly enough, there are more moments when we are Gary than moments when are Steve. We too many times walk around with our hearts only set on ourselves and we look at other’s issues as if they are only the dirt covering a road, unimportant and unnoticeable. We must realize that other’s issues are our issues. We must offer our hands to those who need help, because so many of us have no one to help us when we are in need. Regardless if they are our friends, family, enemies, or just someone on the street, like the story presented above, we must care for them as much as we care for ourselves. If in cases of helping, we must sacrifice something of ours, then let us get rid of anything that needs to be rid of. We must lessen this distance we have placed between our fellow man, because the more that distance grows, the more destructive our selfishness will become.
In reality, all this isn’t about money or any other form of materialistic object that ends up owning us, when we think we own them. In reality, it’s about how we fail to understand that without sacrifice, there is nothing to gain. In reality and all honesty, it’s about how our lack for care about our fellow man is destroying us.
Day by day, hour by hour, second by second…
posted by EmbraceTheVultures | 10:31 PM
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